Chapter 46
Chapter 46
VIP private room
Ava sat upright on the pristine white hospital bed, while Alessia stood at the bedside.
At this moment, there were only the two of them in the room.
Ava looked at Alessia's face with satisfaction. "Luckily, you haven't changed much over the years, so I could recognize you at a glance."
"You've seen me?" Alessia asked.
Ava shook her head, feeling sorry for herself. "It's because I didn't do well, so you refused to see me. Director Jonas from the welfare home took pity on me, so she gave me a photo of you. Don't blame her."
Alessia frowned at the woman who claimed to be her mother, her voice devoid of emotion as she asked calmly, "Since you haven't seen me, how can you be sure that I'm your daughter?"
"Your appearance." Ava didn't hesitate. "You look like your father. Of course, it's natural for you to have doubts. We can do a paternity test. Once the results are out, you'll believe that I'm not lying."
"I'll consider it."
Alessia fell silent for a moment, not immediately agreeing, then turned and left the room.
Behind her, Ava's continuous pleading voice could be heard, but she ignored it and firmly closed the door.
Meeting 'Miss Ramirez' under such circumstances was unexpected for her.
She hadn't thought about acknowledging 'Miss Ramirez' as her mother. There must have been a reason why she hadn't recognized 'Miss Ramirez' before, and for now, she didn't want to disrupt that balance.
Bianca waited boredly outside the hospital room. When she saw Alessia come out, she stepped forward to meet her.
"Sister-in-law, what did you and Miss Ramirez talk about in the hospital room just now? What connection do you have with her?"
Bianca, wearing high heels and carrying a hot water bottle, followed behind Alessia, curiously asking.
Alessia suddenly stopped without any warning. "Why do you call her Miss Ramirez?"
'Miss Ramirez' inside must be over fifty years old, and she had children, so she should be addressed as Madam.
Bianca didn't think much of it and said indifferently, "Ava Ramirez has never been married. She's the daughter of the Ramirez family, so regardless of age, everyone in the circle calls her that!"
Alessia asked, "She has no children?"
"No, she wasn't married."
Bianca answered, then thought about it and changed her mind, "But who knows? She had an illness when she was young and spent a few years in a mental hospital. Who knows what happened before she got sick? In our circle, we're best at hiding scandals after all."
Alessia was surprised, but quickly accepted it.
Bianca had mentioned before that 'Miss Ramirez' was a lunatic, and when they first met in the stairwell, 'Miss Ramirez' was in a bad mental state.
In this case, if she really was 'Miss Ramirez's' daughter, what kind of background would she have, and what kind of romantic experiences had 'Miss Ramirez' had?
Bianca saw Alessia's complex expression and vaguely felt that things might not be as simple as they seemed.
She asked anxiously, "Sister-in-law, what connection do you really have with Ava Ramirez?"
Alessia glanced at the anxious Bianca.
Bianca stamped her foot, suddenly coming up with a brilliant idea and blurting out, "Sister-in-law, did you have a childhood engagement with Nolan?"
Bianca clenched her fists. If her sister-in-law had been engaged to her brother, she could only remarry him!
Alessia didn't want to discuss the Ramirez family for the time being and said, "Let's go back first."
They had been out for so long; if they didn't return soon, Riley would probably think they were missing.
Alessia pushed open the door to the hospital room and saw Riley, who was earnestly flipping through the documents on the blanket with the hand that was receiving an IV. He looked up when he heard the noise.
"If you hadn't come back, I might have called the police." He showed a gentle smile, teasingly, then his gaze fell on Alessia's blood-stained shirt, and his expression suddenly froze. "Sia, your clothes..."
"They're not mine." Alessia glanced at them.
Riley breathed a sigh of relief, and Bianca snorted dissatisfiedly, giving Alessia a teasing look.
Avoiding Bianca's gaze, Riley went back to looking at the documents in his hand.
He lowered his brows, his long eyelashes like raven feathers, a mole on his high bridge nose, his lips crimson, his slender fingers as fair as jade, a bright and gentle appearance.
Bianca's heart skipped a beat, not knowing what she was thinking. Her face suddenly turned red, and she couldn't help but lick her lips in a dry manner.
Alessia cleaned the bloodstains from her clothes and came out of the bathroom, only to notice Bianca's discomfort. She couldn't help but furrow her brows. "Are you feeling hot?"
Bianca turned her head and fanned herself with her hand, asking, "Sister-in-law, aren't you feeling hot? It seems like the air conditioning is broken."
Broken?!
Alessia glanced at the air conditioner, which displayed a temperature of 22 degrees Celsius and seemed to be functioning normally. This temperature was actually quite low.
She couldn't help but smirk and looked at the gift box placed on the bedside table.
The gift box wasn't there before she went out to fetch water, so someone must have come to see Riley before they returned.
Alessia withdrew her gaze, and Bianca spoke to Riley, "Sister-in-law, you should go back first. Chris and Elle are still waiting for you at home, and I can take care of things here."
Alessia clearly sensed that most of what Bianca said was directed at Riley.
Bianca was being a little scheming, but she didn't have any ill intentions.
Since Riley was injured and it wasn't suitable to ask about his grandfather's situation at the moment, staying here wouldn't be of any help. Besides, now that she had found Christopher, there didn't seem to be anything urgent for the time being.
"I'll leave first then." Alessia looked at Riley.
"Sia, I need to ask you for a favor!" Riley looked up.
Alessia raised an eyebrow.
Riley continued, "The most important thing for me coming to Toronto this time, besides looking for you, is to attend an appointment to diagnose a patient. Actually, we had agreed on this afternoon, but it seems that I won't be able to move for a while."
"What's the patient's condition?"
"Autism."
Alessia immediately thought of Christopher.
Recalling the days when Christopher and Christian switched identities, Christopher's behavior-lack of a sense of security, reticence, awkwardness-all belonged to the characteristics of autism.
Alessia's heart sank, and she suddenly wanted to see Christopher.
"Send me the address, and I'll go over this afternoon."
It was also because of Christopher that she couldn't refuse Riley.
"Okay!"
Bianca watched Alessia leave and then looked at Riley, her gaze falling on his fingers as he operated his phone.
She sighed in her heart, what beautiful hands he had.
She leaned over. "Does my sister-in-law also know psychology?"
Riley raised his eyes, his expression gentle. "Isn't Alessia your sister-in-law?"
Implicitly asking why she didn't know.
Bianca felt a lump in her throat, feeling like she was being strangled.
However, she couldn't reveal the truth to her brother's rival in front of her. She stubbornly said, "Of course, I know my sister-in-law knows psychology. I'm just curious about how you know."
Riley glanced at Bianca but didn't expose her lie.
He remembered when he and Alessia studied medicine with their master when they were young.
Although he started earlier, his talent was far inferior to Alessia's, who was recognized by their master as the heir.
But why did Alessia lose her memory?
Where did their master go?
...
"Mr. Carter, Dr. Sinclair's sister has already sent her contact information. She said she'll come to the old mansion for consultation at three o'clock this afternoon."
Inside the black Mercedes-Benz, David, sitting in the passenger seat, looked at the message on his phone and reported back.
Dominic glanced at the clock; it was already twelve o'clock.
"Go back to the old mansion."
David turned his head and re-planned the route with the driver.
Dominic rubbed his temples.
If it weren't for Riley injuring his foot at the right time, he wouldn't have agreed to change doctors. He hoped that the new female doctor, as Riley claimed, was as skilled as him.
***
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